What Makes A Car Beautiful?

_Howard wrote:

What if the dangerous driver is behind you?

This situation actually comes up fairly frequently, now that I'm a senior citizen who drives the speed limit. Quite often a Microsoft 22-year old millionaire roars up behind me, in his $120,000 BMW, and rides my bumper 3 feet back.

What I do is this. I don't tap my brake lights or change lanes (unless I'm hogging the left-hand lane) but I will slowly ease off the accelerator. I keep slowly easing off until the jerk gets the message and pulls around me, usually with a finger or an angry toot. After he's past I resume the speed limit.

Yes, that's what I often do. But that isn't what I was asking about. I mean looking back and seeing a truck roaring up at you in a manner that indicates he just might squash you.
Extreme power is not a requirement for buying a car, but having enough power to avoid an accident is a necessity. Ask anyone who has spend a lot of years on a motorcycle.

My car is 18 years old now. I DARE people to hit me.

Sounds a little like the guy on the airplane that got in trouble. "Fuck it. Let it crash; it's not my airplane."

This one should have been the Batmobile. I don't know about beautiful, but I find it kind of impressive.

1925 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Aerodynamic Coupe

That Rolls is amazing.  I didn't know that aerodynamic styling had emerged by the mid-20s.  Sleeker, I find it more aesthetically appealing than the Chryler Airflow which came out in '34.

The rusted one has a different grill and front corner-fender vents.

1939 Futurliner Bus, by GM, twelve manufactured, nine known to still exist.

NoCoPilot wrote:

After he's past I resume the speed limit.

A rare sentence where either "past" or "passed" will work.

It's only correct either way if you  use the contraction he's.
Otherwise, it is "he is past" or "he has passed". But still unusual.

NoCoPilot wrote:

The rusted one has a different grill and front corner-fender vents.

What makes you think it's a different grill? The old one is missing all the chrome on the grill.

_Howard wrote:

What makes you think it's a different grill? The old one is missing all the chrome on the grill.

Look at the top of the grill.

Hey, I passed a Falcon on the road this morning and thought to myself, "Hey, a lot of the iconic car designs in history have borrowed features from other modes of transportation: the ship's portholes of the 1957 T-Bird, the rocket fins of Buicks and Cadillacs, the jet engine exhaust ports of Falcons and the Batmobile. Why don't car designers bring back this trend?

NoCoPilot wrote:

_Howard wrote:

What makes you think it's a different grill? The old one is missing all the chrome on the grill.

Look at the top of the grill.

Good catch. I missed that.

NoCoPilot wrote:

Hey, I passed a Falcon on the road this morning and thought to myself, "Hey, a lot of the iconic car designs in history have borrowed features from other modes of transportation: the ship's portholes of the 1957 T-Bird, the rocket fins of Buicks and Cadillacs, the jet engine exhaust ports of Falcons and the Batmobile.  Why don't car designers bring back this trend?

Odd that a Falcon would make you ask that question, as they had no tail fins, portholes, or "jet engine exhaust ports". I have owned a 1963 and a 1965 Falcon Ranchero. A friend had a 1957 Thunderbird with a Cadillac engine. Really nice car. Side note: the Batmobile was a concept car - the Lincoln Futura, ca 1955.

_Howard wrote:

Odd that a Falcon would make you ask that question, as they had no "jet engine exhaust ports".

When I passed one I thought these tail lights looked a lot like jet engines.  Maybe I was wrong.

I had never noticed that.

Are you sure this is what you want to return to?

Tucker Torpedo concept car:

_Howard wrote:

My Jaguar had covered headlights. What is your opinion?

Definitely the covered headlights look better.

Also, the extra chrome around the mouth makes this model look like it's wearing braces.

_Howard wrote:

Why does this two-door 1950 Studebaker Champion look so much shorter than the two-door 1950 Studebaker Champion diecast model I bought, which looks like a land yacht in comparison?


It must be just the angle, huh.

NoCoPilot wrote:

Also, the extra chrome around the mouth makes this model look like it's wearing braces.

That extra chrome was an option on all the E-Types, even the older ones with covered headlights. Mine had that chrome when I bought it, but it was soon removed. Just a couple of bolts on each side where it was attached to the bumper uprights. Unfortunately, the front of the bonnet is just the right height for getting dinged if you bump into just about anything. Please don't embarrass me by asking how I know that.

1951 Buick Le Sabre Motorama Concept Car

1954 Buick Wildcat Concept Car